💡No Need to Set Primary Key in Core Data/SwiftData

fatbobman ( 东坡肘子)
2 min readJust now

TL;DR: Core Data and SwiftData auto-manage primary keys using SQLite’s Z_PK (auto-increment), Z_ENT (entity type), and Z_PRIMARYKEY (key tracking), eliminating the need for manual primary key setup.

Question:

For iOS developers, one common question when using Core Data or SwiftData is: why don’t these frameworks require setting a primary key, like other databases?

Stay ahead with the latest updates and deep insights on Swift, SwiftUI, Core Data, and SwiftData. Subscribe to Fatbobman’s Swift Weekly to get exclusive articles, tips, and curated resources delivered straight to your inbox every week.

For even more valuable content and in-depth tutorials, visit my blog at fatbobman.com — your go-to destination for all things Swift and Apple development.

Answer:

The answer lies in the underlying SQLite database where both frameworks automatically implement a robust primary key mechanism:

  1. Auto-Incremented Primary Key (Z_PK): Each entity table…

--

--

fatbobman ( 东坡肘子)
fatbobman ( 东坡肘子)

Written by fatbobman ( 东坡肘子)

Blogger | Sharing articles at https://fatbobman.com | Publisher of a weekly newsletter on Swift at http://weekly.fatbobman.com

No responses yet